Here is a link to the U2 page that has a RealAudio / Video streaming download of Morrissey presenting "the very sexy... U2" with their award for best Irish band:

http://www.illume.com/U2/

go to the Hot Press Awards feature on the main page.

I've copied the file so it can be streamed (56K modems +)  or downloaded (~1 MB file size) locally. RealPlayer required.

Hot Press Awards - on TV this Sunday (UK)

Thanks to Ross and also Andy Stanhope and John Levon for the news that the Hot Press Awards will be covered on "O-zone" (Sunday, Apr. 19, 12:35pm, BBC2). From Ross:

...BBC2’s "Ozone" music programme is a special from The Irish Hot Press Awards, and Morrissey was shown and named during the little trailer for it, so possibly an interview.

PS Moz was sporting new spectacles!!

And according to John, the show is normally repeated on Tuesday, but that is cancelled next week "due to the snooker".

Morrissey/Smiths radio special (Los Angeles)

From Melinda Hsu:

Mark Wright has a regular British music revue show on KSPC 88.7 fm, the Claremont Colleges radio station. His show is from 7-9 pm. On April 25, Saturday, from 8-9 pm he’ll be devoting a special hour to Morrissey/the Smiths. So if you’re in the Los Angeles area, tune in for that show, and maybe you’ll experience the rare sensation of NOT wanting to hang the d.j.!

I heard an amusing rumour about Morrissey at that Hot Press awards thing. Apparently, when he arrived someone had taken his seat. He got in to his usual tizzy and nearly left but was eventually convinced to stay. I don’t know how true it is.

"Girl Afraid" - surf music?

Thanks to Fabricio Muller for the following:

Yesterday I was watching Fantastico, the Globo’s Sunday Evening program (TV Globo is the most important television network in Brazil), when I heard "Girl Afraid" during the publicity interval! They was announcing a new surf music cd, and our Smiths were together with Hoodoo Gurus, Men at Work, Rush... Strange, I think...

"My Generation" - question

This time it was correctly answered (unlike the last one). From Angela:

On tonight’s episode of My Generation on VH-1, there was a category of questions called, "What’s my Name" in which a stage name of a musician was given and the contestants were to supply the real name.

The second question in that category, was "Morrissey." They showed the Bona Drag cover and gave a three multiple choice answers:

Steven Morrissey
Morris the Cat
______?

I didn’t catch the last answer.

The 1990 team got the answer right.

...Morrissey didn’t win the "Irish Rover" award tonight [4/9]. It went to Shane MacGowan.

Morrissey presented the award to "the sexy" U2 for best Irish group. Bono said that Morrissey had written a book about Johnny Thunders and Morrissey said, "Almost". He was very pally with Bono, hugging him etc.

He’s looking wonderful.

• Lucky Lisp - information added to Links/Fanzines page
• Morrissey, Drive Me Home - newly released issue #7 info added
• Myth Is Morrissey, The Smiths & Morrissey French Fanzine - information added to Links page
• Operations - the unofficial fanzine for Spencer Cobrin added to Links/Fanzines page
• Speedway - a temporary track listing for the first part of the tribute CD included with the "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - the Speedway Tribute to The Smiths" is available. The tribute is organized by Fabio D'Antonio, part 1 will be available late summer 1998, part 2 will be available in 1999.
  
  TEMPORARY CD1 TRACK LIST
  NORTHPOLE (Bassano del Grappa) "Jeane"
  LE MADRI (Verona) "Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now"
  EVERSOR (Pesaro) "I Want The One I Can’t Have"
  LUXURE (Vicenza) "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want"
  SYBIL (Genova) "Asleep"
  E 102 (Verona) "Wonderful Woman"
  soprano FRANCESCA MARTINI (Teramo) "Never Had No One Ever"
  MIRABILIA (Firenze) "How Soon Is Now?"
  DARLING (Washington - Usa) "This Charming Man"
  OSSESSIONE (Rimini) "Panic"
  AGE (Genova) "Frankly Mr. Shankly"
  UNABOMBER (Padova) "London"
  DIVINE (Pescara) "Death Of A Disco Dancer"
  RYAN KING (Arizona - Usa) "Shoplifters Of The World Unite"
  YO YO MUNDI (Torino) "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
  CLAUDIA PASTORINO (Genova) "Meat Is Murder"
  VIRGINIANA MILLER (Livorno) "What Difference Does It Make?"
  TRE ALLEGRI RAGAZZI MORTI (Pordenone) "Unloveable"
  BOKASSA (Pisa) "That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore"
  MORE (Firenze) "Bigmouth Strikes Again"
  DOME (Bologna) "Reel Around The Fountain"
  CONNERY (Germany) "Girlfriend In A Coma"
  
  Here are some bands that will be enclosed on second part
  BANANA SCRAIT (Brasil) "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side"
  TANGO MARZIANO (Pisa) "Still Ill"
  CUORENUOVO (Livorno) "The Queen Is Dead"
  PRIMA LINEA (Rimini) "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"
  SPACE SURFERS (Monza) "Shakespeare’s Sister"
  GLANCE (Pesaro) "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
  JOYELLO (Verona) "Girlfriend In A Coma"
  DYSTOPIA ONE (Usa) "Panic"
  
  More are welcome...

Italian Smiths Convention - April 30

Also, news of an Italian Smiths Convention on April 30, 1998 from Fabio:

ITALIAN SMITHS CONVENTION
30/04/98 at "LaFuente" discoclub, Via S. Eusebio 48, Fano tel. 0721/863054;
INGRESSO GRATUITO (free admittance).

Will be selected by me SMITHS MORRISSEY music and 2 bands of the tribute will play live:

Glance (Suede style)
More (great Smiths cover band).

Every person that wears a Moz or Smiths t-shirt will receive a free copy of Speedway fanzine... I hope it will be a good party... some cover songs from the tribute will be broadcasted 6 months before the release...

For more info:
http://www.itol.it/menu/musica/speedway.htm

On Television

* Saturday, April 11, ITV (UK), 9pm -
"The Things You Do For Love", the docu-drama on the life of "Shakespeare's Sister" cover star Pat Phoenix. Thanks to Rachel Mckeon for the info.

Television Reruns

* Thursday, April 9, Comedy Central (US), noon and midnight -
Saturday Night Live (1992) with Morrissey as musical guest. Thanks to Adam Lupercio for the info from RockOnTV.

* Saturday, April 11, Channel 4 (UK), 10pm -
Brit Girls documentary on Cilla Black. Thanks to Naomi for the info. According to Naomi, "..The programme is billed simply as 'Cilla Black' which means, I think, that this has more than a little to do with the out of court settlement reached last year."

In the ‘Hot Press Awards’ which are being held this Thursday in Belfast a new section has been introduced, that of the ‘Wild Rover’.

This is to pay tribute to artists of Irish descent who’ve greatly influenced modern music. The nominees are:

Elvis Costello
Shane MacGowan
Boy George
Noel Gallagher (Oasis)
and Morrissey.

While it seems certain that either Shane or Noel will get the award it’s still nice to see Morrissey being remembered. Anyway I’ll be roaming the streets just in case he comes over for the ceremony.

"No touring plannes..."

Info on the European booking agency site from yeuz:

At planetsound.com:

"...also expected / Fall 98
- MORRISSEY.....There are no touring plannes.. "

Scan by T.Y.

Thanks to T.Y. for a scan of the sleeve, and also for answering the question about the possibility of differing versions of the songs (and for the additional info):

... Unfortunately they are the same versions as ever.

Usually someone like a music critic writes a description of the artist in the booklet of Japanese CDs. In this CD, An editor of a famous music magazine in Japan wrote about the "commemorative" edition (and the lyrics of the B-side singles) in it.

The CD would have been "commemorative" if Morrissey had come to Japan though, the tour is still pending... My friend asked Mercury Japan, they said, "it had been postponed, and we don’t know when Moz will come."

Japanese CD "LOST - RARE TRACKS" is at last released on 1st of April in Japan.The songs featured are:

1 Lost
2 Heir Apparent
3 The Edges Are No Longer Parallel
4 This Is Not Your Country
5 Now I Am A Was
6 I Can Have Both

All lyrics to the songs are included.

The cover work is original... I haven’t got a scanner and can’t send a photo of the cover, but the cover work is original. I think the cover photo of Morrissey is Rankin’s photo, in which he wears a black suit and a pink shirt. But this photo is printed in b/w on the ivory colour on this cover and it’s very nice. The price is 1835yen (inc. tax) in Japan. This CD was going to be released to commemorate his third Japanese tour which was scheduled in March but canceled before being officially announced.

There's "Panic" in the year 1999

Thanks to Giselle Gazda for this item:

...in the April 98 Issue of Harper’s Bazaar Magazine (US) there is an article in which various club DJs from around the world list the ultimate New Years Eve 1999 music to play. Boy George, as a celebrity DJ lists The Smiths "Panic" as one of his ultimate songs, right along with "Everybody Hurts" and "Cosmic Dancer". Just thought I’d point this out.

"Best of '97" in "Sound Affects" (Sweden)

Thanks to Nicklas Franke for this:

In the latest issue of the Swedish music magazine "Sound Affects" they list what the readers (I´m one of them) considered to be the best of ´97.

In the category "best foreign album of the year" "Maladjusted" reached nr.4.

In the categories "best foreign group/artist of the year" and "best concert of the year" Moz came in second place.

But Morrissey also won two categories! He was voted to be "foreign hero of the year" and Mozzer's debut in Sweden was considered to be "Event of the year" (in this category he got more votes than the Roskilde festival).

Bernard Butler's forthcoming LP

From Brian Kehoe:

...on the US Bernard Butler site, the ex-Suede guitar virtuoso thanks Johnny Marr on his forthcoming hyped solo effort, People Move On (US: Apr. 21, UK: Apr. 6). Any Morrissey fan would derive great joy from introducing themselves to this fantastic artist.

"These Charming Men" - more gigs (London)

From Daniel Sikar:

... We’re "These Charming Men" that after the "Still Ill’s" demise remains the only Smiths/Morrissey tribute band in the UK and that’s my secret known. Alain Whyte has seen us and, I can only go by what I’ve heard, said that "the band were overall good and the guitarist was very good". If you’re wishing to make up your own mind three opportunities beckon in and around London as usual. We’ll be playing the Army and Navy in Chelmsford (April the 11th), the Halfmoon in Putney (April the 13th) and the Venue in New Cross (May the 1st), onstage at ten pm on every date.

If you turn up you can expect to hear a myriad of Smiths classics plus Morrissey-solo numbers such as: "Suedehead", "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys", "Everyday Is Like Sunday", "Satan Rejected My Soul" and "Alma Matters".